Parental Consent Law for Tanning?

Blue State Conservative has a post by Phil of Red Guy in a Blue State which links to this story which says that, "Nassau County is expected to pass a teen-ager tanning law. The law would require that nobody under age 14 be allowed in a tanning salon. Kids age 14 to 16 would need a parent with them to get a tan. And teen-agers age 16 to 18 would need signed parental approval.

The Nassau bill has been approved in various committees and is expected to be voted on by the full county legislature in two week. A similar bill is moving through the Suffolk County Legislature.

And in Albany, the state legislature are considering a state-wide bill that was introduced by two Long Island legislators."

I wonder if the ACLU will sue to keep these laws of the books like they did with Michigan's informed consent for abortion law.

Using the thought process of the ACLU henceforth: Don't teens have a right to get rid of that farmer's tan before summer or get a "base" tan before for spring break? Isn't their skin part of their body? Shouldn't they have full control over these bodies and not have local governments restricting their rights to look like they've been in Cancun for a week and not lodged up in snowy New York. Come to think of it - this is also a blatant discrimination of equal rights based on location. All those teens in Florida can just sit out in their back yards to get tan. Not so in northern states. Shouldn't all teens have equal rights to darken their skin?

According to the ACLU's website:

Governmental Intrusion into Family Relationships Doesn't Create Stronger Families

For teens who feel they cannot safely turn to their parents, government coercion doesn't change anything. There is no evidence that mandating parental involvement actually increases the rate at which teens tell their parents about their pregnancies and planned abortions.

Same with tanning. Coercion isn't going to change anything. Soon these teens will spending hours under dangerous high wattage light bulbs in their basements instead of the safe environment of a tanning salon. Plus, I've yet to see any evidence that mandating teens to tell their parents about their tanning will actually increase the rate at which teens inform their parents of their sun light bulb-soaking habit.

Aren't the civil liberties of these teens being violated by these local governments? Shouldn't these teens be free to get a "glow" at tanning salons to their heart's content without their parents' supervision or consent? Should parents really be allowed to know what their children are doing? These New York legislators have gone to far. There should be at least some kind of judicial waiver where a teen can go to a judge and prove that she is mature enough to be able to decide if tanning is right for her.

These laws also unfairly single out teens who want to get tan. No local government requires parental consent for a child who wants to become as pale as possible is there? No parental consent is required for teens who want to completely cover their skin from the sun. The real interest here must be to keep our teens as white or light as possible. Could this measure be based almost solely on discreet racism?